Columns

According to NBC News producer Jay Blackman, I'm worth a lot of money.

His Monday night story, "What is a mom's work worth?" laid it all out on the line.

"They say it's the small things, but when it comes to mothers, the small things really do add up. Whether it's driving to karate, making doctor appointments, or paying the bills, Mom's job is never done - and she does it all for free."

It is much too easy to write a column about domestic violence these days. Sadly, there are abundant examples all over the news. I wish these stories never happened.

In Middletown, Md., an accountant for a railroad company killed his wife, his three children and then himself. The bodies were discovered by the children's grandfather on April 18. The 33-year-old mother and three children received "traumatic cuts" and were also shot. The father left five notes and apologized to family members in one of the notes. He apparently faced psychological and financial problems.

As Mother's Day rolls around once again, I find myself reflecting this year on the different obligations we feel towards those mothers in our lives, at different times and passages in our lives.

As this is the second Mother's Day since my own mother died, I can't help but remember her with the fondest recollections, avoiding the sad, last and declining years of her life when a stroke took away her sparkle and delightful personality.

If I could give an award to Casey Circuit Judge James G. Weddle, I would. He knows what it's all about.

Weddle refused to sign a settlement order recently for a lawsuit involving a Liberty teenager who sued the County government. Driving a Mack truck, a County road worker rear-ended 17-year-old Jeremy Wilson's Chevy Blazer in December 2006.

Weddle denied the motion presented by attorneys because the order of dismissal provided for a settlement that is confidential.

We're going to find out why so many teenagers are reading the Twilight saga.

At Sunday's meeting of the CKNJ Bookmarks reading group, we discussed our last book choice, a set of two novellas, "Dinner With a Perfect Stranger" and "A Day With a Perfect Stranger." The books were an easy read, first-person accounts of two young skeptics who encounter Jesus, and his answers to their most challenging and most personal life questions.

As a reporter, I sometimes write stories that seem to stay with me and tug at my emotions, whether it's about someone dying in a car crash, a fire that left a family homeless or someone accused of hurting an innocent child. One such story that recently tugged at me was about child abuse. It gave statistics that show that the number of reported child abuse cases last year was higher - much higher - than in 2007.

The nation's preeminent business organization recently released a study showing that the high costs of the American health care system puts American businesses at a significant disadvantage.

The Business Roundtable, which represents some of the country's biggest corporations, found that for every $100 the U.S. spends on health care, our main competitor countries - the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, France, and German - only spend about 63 cents.